Jan. 17—Feast of the Santo Niño

Readings: Isaiah 9: 1-6; Psalm 97, Response: The Lord is king; let the many isles be glad.; Ephesians 1: 3-6, 15-18; Gospel—Mark 10: 13-16Two of the most influential and inspirational global leaders of the 20th century share a similar view of what accounts for the measure and character of a society.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members” while Nelson Mandela said, “The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children.”

On the Feast of the Santo Niño, I invite you to reflect on today’s Gospel, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

There is another perspective I wish to add for our reflection. This year is the 500th anniversary of the coming of Christianity to the Philippines, and with this we associate the devotion to the Santo Niño, the very first religious image and devotion Catholic Christianity brought here.

Let us look at three services or channels of care that society must provide for its children, if not its most vulnerable and marginalized, regardless of age.

Three services

The first, and more obvious, is the right to basic services. Let us prioritize just three. There are others, but these three are the most basic, I think and feel: health care, education and food security.

Under health care, we face the problem of malnutrition, most especially the first 1,000 days of an infant that can inflict lifelong handicaps.

Emerging as a health-care concern is mental health. While this is a concern across age groups, the youth are the most vulnerable. Again, much has been done in this area to provide support, but more needs to be done.

For education, fundamentally, the problem of disparity is in access to education and the quality of education.

The pandemic also highlighted food security. With the loss of jobs or income, providing for the basic needs of families, such as food, has become a widespread concern.

The second channel of care is providing opportunities or access to material resources; in particular, jobs or income. One survey pointed out that heads of families prefer stable jobs over aid, or ayuda.

Given the problem with education, this concern over access to jobs or income is further compounded. Lower skills jobs will soon disappear, which further narrows opportunities for the marginalized who have limited access to quality education.

To hope and dream

All these open our most marginalized to what I consider the greatest injustice: when they are robbed of their ability to hope and to dream.

Pope Francis and many other writers tie this up with the direction the global economy is taking. With the exponential growth in technology in the fields of automation and robotics, and where most jobs are “STEM-ified” (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), hopes and dreams are further dimmed. The crisis may seem so economic in nature, but it is also a crisis of meaning, a crisis of the soul.

In the year of the fifth centenary of Christianity in the Philippines, we ask and reflect, what is there to celebrate? Much, but more. There is much to be thankful for, but there is more that we need to do. The theme of the celebrations captures it well: “Gifted to Give.”

Christianity has gifted us with many blessings, but there is so much more we can give—and desire to give. We need to do an individual and communal soul-searching. Begin with understanding what is there to celebrate as Christians, as the Philippine Church.

Remembering is always the path to a genuine celebration, an honest remembering that leads us to, in Ignatian parlance, a realistic knowledge of ourselves and our world. This allows us to celebrate. In celebrating our deep sense of gratitude, it renews our faith in the gift of God, the gift of Christ to us—in him alone is our hope.

The gift of this hope renewed, I pray, will be our first step toward a genuine celebration of 500 years of Christianity, giving us renewed inspiration to be a Church of the marginalized together. Gratitude leads us to give back in return—returning love for love in all things. —CONTRIBUTED INQ